Bill Ramsay, CFP®, recently participated in his third Triangle Business Journal roundtable event. The 2009 Financial Roundtable: Wealth Strategies was held at the Triangle Business Journal office on September 29th, 2009, with the full article appearing in the October 16th, 2009 issue.
Bill also participated in the Triangle Busniess Journal’s rountables on August 23, 2007 and [...]
Understanding the difference between a fiduciary standard and a suitability standard could pay major dividends in a relationship with a financial professional. Operating under the fiduciary standard requires a planner to put the client’s interest ahead of his or her own. In other words, don’t be afraid to ask your financial advisor the motivation behind [...]
When researching mutual funds to invest client funds, we evaluate numerous aspects including corporate culture, manager experience and compensation, research philosophy, and expenses. One of our primary concerns is that fund managers have their interests aligned with those of shareholders. In our view we find one of the best measures of this to [...]
Given current economic conditions, is a weak dollar a good or a bad thing? There are strong opinions on this matter from both sides of the issue. Paul Krugman, an economics professor at Princeton and a columnist for The NY Times makes a compelling case for a weakening U.S. dollar being good news.
He writes:
“The truth [...]
The CFP® board requires financial planners to attain a significant amount of continuing education to keep their designations current. So this week Allison and Chad attended the FPA of the Triangle’s 2009 Annual Symposium.
One of the presentations by fellow FPA member, Dennis Stearns, provided some quality economic research that should lend some interesting discussion in [...]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides better education cost breaks to more taxpayers for 2009 and 2010. Computers, certain software and internet access can be covered by tax free 529 plan distributions as long as they are used by an eligible student while enrolled at an eligible institution. The ARRA also replaces the Hope [...]
Looking for a way to better track your budget? Throughout the upcoming weeks, we will be bringing you personal reviews of some of the budgeting software available. Some will be free, online websites, while others will be computer software programs available for purchase or download.
Our first review comes from Heather Zaczek, our Operations Specialist, who [...]
Chad Smith, CFP® was recently quoted on wsj.com. In the article, “Financial Advisers Look Local,” Shelly Banjo profiled several ways Financial Symmetry was reaching out to clients in the Triangle. Some of these initiatives included working with charitable organizations, educating younger couples, and providing information on the company’s blog.
Download pdf of article
Back in March, many investors were wrestling with the emotions of wanting to preserve whatever money they still had.
There are two primary types of client relationships in the world of financial advice. The sales model represented by brokers and insurance agents versus the fiduciary model represented by Registered Investment Advisors.
The inherent problems and conflicts of interest with the sales model is why we choose to operate exclusively as Registered Investment Advisors.
